ACD Press Release

 

Arlington, VA –Today, Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD) member Richard Erstad, Vice President, General Council, and Secretary for Hawkins, Inc., testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials. The hearing, titled “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)’s Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule: Failures to Protect the American People and American”, examined the regulatory burdens of the EPA’s final rulemaking on the RMP.

                          

Erstad testifies before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials on the regulatory burdens of EPA's RMP final rulemaking.

In his testimony, Erstad highlighted ACD’s concern with the changes to the historically successful program.

“Chemical facilities have already developed systems, trained employees, and invested in infrastructure to meet existing RMP requirements, and these measures have worked. RMP incidents decreased by 70 percent from 1996 to 2016, with a 57 percent decrease from 2007 to 2016 alone. The vast majority of facilities have been successful in preventing incidents as 97 percent of RMP-regulated facilities did not have a reportable incident from 2016 to 2020. There is no evidence of any need to change this established program, and the finalized revisions require a massive undertaking for facilities, even when they have diligently followed all regulations and have never had an incident.”

Erstad continued by underscoring the alarming revisions to the program, which includes the requirement of disclosing potentially sensitive information.

“The regulation now requires facilities to supply individuals who live, work, or spend significant time within a six-mile radius of the facility with information related to chemicals stored onsite, chemical processes used, and more. To meet this requirement, the EPA has created a webpage, displaying sensitive information for all RMP facilities in the country to be publicly available to anyone. This creates immense security concerns for all chemical facilities, as this information is sensitive and can easily put them at risk of being targeted by malicious actors. Moreover, this is at a time where the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard program is not in place, making facilities especially vulnerable.

Erstad concluded, “It is also important to consider that these changes come as the EPA is finalizing other regulations, such as Clean Water Act Hazardous Substance Facility Response Plans, several new regulatory rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act, and more… This places a significant cumulative impact on facilities, driving up costs and making it more difficult to provide the necessary chemicals that communities across the country rely on. We appreciate the Subcommittee’s attention to this issue and hope Congress acts to alleviate the immense regulatory burden that is being imposed on American businesses.”

Following the EPA’s final rulemaking on RMP on March 1, 2024, ACD released a statement criticizing the burdensome and unnecessary rulemaking.

ACD applauded a joint resolution introduced by Representative Dan Crenshaw’s (R-TX-02), which would repeal the burdensome changes made by the EPA to RMP. ACD urges Congress to pass this resolution without delay.

To watch the full hearing, click here.

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The Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD) partners with our more than 400 chemical distribution industry members to provide the education, connection, standards, and advocacy they need to responsibly move the essential products our world depends on. As leaders in the $27B+ chemical distribution industry, ACD member companies commit to the highest standards in quality, safety, sustainability, and performance through ACD Responsible Distribution^TM. For more information, visit www.acd-chem.com.